Monthly Archives: October 2013

She was this perfect blue-eyed beauty who could get anything she wanted with a toss of her hair. The kind of girl who effortlessly flirts with boys instead of stuttering, “H-h-hey! So…that thing was pretty cool, right? No? Um…c-c-catch ya later!”

Basically, she was the anti-Marni.

And I wanted to dismiss her as the mean girl.

Except I couldn’t do that because Logan had dated her. And there was no way Logan would have been sucked in purely by a beautiful face. There had to be more to Chelsea than I initially wanted to see.

More than Mackenzie wanted to see, too.

That thought nagged at me the whole time I wrote INVISIBLE. For some reason, Mackenzie brought out the worst in Chelsea.

But that didn’t mean Jane couldn’t see a different side of her.

By the time I finished INVISIBLE there was no doubt in my mind: I had to tell Chelsea’s side of the story.

And yes, I stared outside at the snow in Oregon while I listened to Chelsea’s rants…

I also collaged like a crazy person.

Here’s the truth: I became a crazy person.

Nobody sane has hair like this. Nobody.

I doodled potential plot points…

I created a playlist for Chelsea…

And I ate this celebratory sushi three months later when I finished my first draft!

I swooned over the cover KTeen created for NOTABLE. In fact, I ran around L.A. snapping photos with the coverflats they sent me!

It’s just so pretty!

My neighbors weren’t thrilled about the way I beautified some signage.

But I couldn’t be stopped!

Chelsea insisted that she deserved a star of her own…

I even roped Laurie Halse Anderson into geeking out with me!

Fun fact: Laurie Halse Anderson is the coolest person in the world. She also gives fantastic advice. I would be perfectly happy letting her make all my life decisions. All of them.

If you had told me when I was writing AWKWARD that Chelsea would steal my heart…I’d have burst out laughing.

But that’s exactly what she did.

The two of us just…clicked. The anti-Marni somehow became my imaginary best friend.

You would think that at some point the whole publishing part of this process would become normal. But the truth is that I’m living out my wildest dream. (Okay, the wildest dream that doesn’t include an English manor of some kind. What can I say? I really loved Pride & Prejudice.) Most of the time this job feels like something I hallucinated after pulling an all-nighter with my AP U.S. history textbook.

Frankly, I still can’t believe I got away with some of the things I did to Chelsea.

*Cackles wickedly*

And since I am in Vegas, I had no trouble taking some ridiculous photos for you guys!

Chelsea wanted to check out The Venetian hotel with me. And then she complained bitterly that I had sent her to Cambodia instead of Venice…or Vegas.

But I ignored her complaining and decided to practice my spycraft instead…

Let’s just say that didn’t go quite the way I planned.

Those are real sharks!

Chelsea and I were informed we had the right to remain silent. But let’s just say that this happened…

And then this happened…

I’m kidding, of course!

Even when Chelsea suggests Questionable Life Decisions…this is the craziest I get!

Marni wasn’t here.

Okay, so maybe there was a little power-tripping.

But in all seriousness, I want to give a big thank you to everyone who made this book possible. And that absolutely includes all of my amazing readers!

Your tweets/emails/book trailers/Facebook messages/hugs/fanart/book purchases…they mean the world to me.

I’ve learned something important about myself: I suck at blogging when I travel.

Seriously. I’m the worst at it. Every now and then I think, “I should share these adventures with the world!” and then I come up with a reason to put it off.

Which means that now you get the highlight reel from my trip across America!

Where to begin….

LOS ANGELES:

I was too excited to sleep the night before the trip, so I felt like a zombie by the time the shuttle picked me up. And then I met a real zombie!

Okay, I met an actor who plays a zombie on The Walking Dead. That’s pretty much the same thing, right?

Vincent M. Ward now has a copy of NOTABLE. Chelsea probably doesn’t watch The Walking Dead, but Jane is totally geeking out over this.

Still, I couldn’t wait to trade L.A. in for New Orleans. After weeks of stressing over a new writing project, a change of scenery needed to happen.

There were crazy eyes, my friends. And those crazy eyes were attached to my face. It’s never a good thing when you look into the mirror and say, “Why hello! Don’t you look like a serial killer today!”

So the timing for this adventure couldn’t have been better.

Especially since I stayed in a mansion with two awesome writing buddies: Cecily White and Noelle Pierce.

Yep. A mansion.

Cecily contends that I’m exaggerating about her childhood home.

I think that if water comes from a swan, it’s officially a mansion.

Right?!

Plus, they have a special scoop for ice cubes. I seriously doubt that even Ice Cube lives in such luxury. These are the kinds of details that I notice after two weeks of self-imposed solitary confinement.

Luckily, Cecily’s mom seemed to get a kick out of just how much I loved her home. (Especially my bedroom, which included a little step stool so I could reach the four poster bed. So cute!)

I’m not allowed to tell you about everything that happened in New Orleans. The three of us pretty much swore a blood oath. But I can tell you that we spent most of our time discussing characters and plots and writing deadlines.

Oh, and I went from this…

To this:

I have always wanted to play with the color of my hair. Always. But even though I have no trouble grabbing a pair of scissors and snipping away at 3am, I could never bring myself to alter the shade. So coloring it red was my way of shaking things up!

The next few days are now a blur of awesome.

I had a MacGyver moment that involved rigging up my computer charger at the coffee shop with the help of my shoe.

I went to an incredible restaurant called Muriel’s with the girls. There were all these creepy old photos and paintings on the walls and I couldn’t shake the feeling that at any minute they might decide to start haunting me.

Note the super creepy painting behind me…

Here are some other cool photos…that could use much better lighting.

Andrew Jackson: Vampire Hunter.

Creepy pictures. Such a creepy pictures!

We sang karaoke at a club on Bourbon St. called The Cat’s Meow. And yes, Noelle filmed our rendition of Call Me Maybe. Have I mentioned that Noelle is a wonderful, beautiful person who would never stoop to blackmailing me?

I’ve truly missed both of them ever since I left New Orleans.

Our last big group activity was a visit to Cecily’s old high school. The girls we spoke with were absolutely wonderful. They asked fantastic questions and lingered to chat with us after the official lecture part was over. So we definitely ended on a high note!

WASHINGTON D.C.

I’m so glad I visited my older sister! She shares an adorable apartment with her roommate and the two of them took me to a wonderful Yom Kippur service.

Just for the record: “wonderful” and “service” are not two words that I usually put together.

But the Rabbi discussed the Jewish holiday of repenting misdeeds in a way that was current, political, and non-partisan. I was impressed.

Still, I spent the majority of my time in D.C. acting like a tourist. I woke up early so that I could enjoy an entire day at The Newseum and I still nearly went back for more! The FBI exhibit was super cool…

Don’t shoot, G-Men!

So…that’s intense!

And I loved this section of the Berlin Wall!

Not that Chelsea needs any encouragement to act up!

The next day I went to the International Spy Museum!

Even the bathroom signs were made of awesome!

I totally geeked out. And I did my very best to memorize as much information from the exhibits as possible. I’m sure some of it will come in handy!

That’s all I’m going to say for now…

In other news…I took Chelsea to see a whole bunch of national monuments.

I snuggled up to FDR.

I joked around with Lincoln.

I practiced my powerful pose of authority with MLK.

And I met an incredible ballerina who agreed to pose with Notable!

This photo always makes me smile!

Here are some more…

I totally got into my role of photographer.

But perhaps the best part of my trip to D.C. was actually my ride to the airport. That’s because I was able to catch up with a good friend from high school. Danielle and I laughed and joked all the way to Dulles International and I boarded my flight to Boston with a very happy heart.